If you have been couponing for some time, you probably have a stockpile of items that you could live off of for a week or two. Sometimes taking a break from shopping and eating only what you have available is a great way to save your family money. Think of it this way– Taking one week off from grocery shopping will save you one weeks worth of your grocery budget.
Yes, eating from your stockpile may be dull and boring (you can only eat pasta SO many times and be happy about it) but this also gives you the chance to get creative with what you do have.
Of course you would need to purchase fresh fruits and veggies-but this amount is nothing compared to a full fledge week of grocery shopping.
Challenge yourself, if you have the stockpile–use it! 
My Name is Josie and I live in sunny Southern California and I am a stay at home mom to three beautiful boys. We all know that living in California is a task of it's own and saving in California IS possible! I started this blog mainly to share all the awesome deals out there and show others how to save in any area of life. Even though you may make the commitment to be frugal and pinch your pennies doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice!
My husband and I do this whenever we have to save up for something big like a birthday party or with halloween coming up, but we do it for a month and it’s a great way to rotate our stock.
Love this idea!
This is a great idea although my grocery shopping is mainly fruits and veggies…for just one week I buy at least 5lbs carrots, 2 cucumbers, 2-3 avacados, 2 squash, 4 bell peppers, 35 bananas, 35 apples, 35 pears, and what ever other fruit is under $1. I try to buy enough for one week but if apples and pears are on sale I will try to buy 2 weeks worth. I need an orchard
…my next splurge is milk bread and tortillas…but thanks to ur site I am set on toiletries and saved so much…and able to help out my mom! 
Our family of four was forced to live off our stockpile for two months when my husband was “between jobs”. We used to live off 50$/week for groceries but found that by eating from the stockpile we spent only 50$/month for those two months. I was so thankful for my stockpile and for my husband finding a new job. Now i can build the stockpile again.
We went through a similar scenario when my father was hurt at work. Though he didn’t lose a job, we went a while with almost no income until the insurance work was done. We were so thankful for couponing and our stock, especially for all the meat we had frozen from clearance/sales.
I do this every couple months with products when I feel a little coupon-burnout.
I do this all the time now. In the beginning I was a little obsessed with building my stockpile but then I realized the I was building only for it to go to waste (It’s only me and my 3 year old). I went from barely having a enough until my next paycheck to having a stockpile and it felt great. I literally had things like 20 tubes of toothpaste and when you actually look at things like expirations its like am I going to use 20 tubes in a year and a half. Ummm.. NO! So, I gave some to my mom and my friend. And now I have been alternating between stocking food items and non-food items. I’ve been seriously couponing since March and I can say that you can go through a little bit of compulsion to get every single sale. I try to make sure I have enough staples that would last me 6 months. *Josie, I love how you share recipes. I love to hear some meals that others do as well.